According to a survey made by the global real estate consultant Knight Frank, Spain is predicted to be the favourite country among real estate investors for the next months. The country’s improving economic conditions are acting as a catalyst for the rise in purchases being made by large investment funds and wealthy individuals.
It is the first time that the UK doesn’t top the rank. 26% of the respondents voted for Spain, and 25% for the UK. Following this is Germany, with 16% of votes. France, however, only received 5%.
At the Spanish Property Forum celebrated by MONEY MARKET in London last November, Pol Clota Gou, Chief Commercial Officer at Altamira Asset Management, said that “the economic context was a problem that has turned into a opportunity”, now that Spain is “in full economic recovery”.
He states that there’s “a new trend” in the property market, where third sector, stores or small to medium enterprises are growing in number. He said that “people are starting to build their own houses again” and that every kind of land (rural, rustic, self built, industrial, commercial, etc.) is available for purchase.
As a representative of one of Spain’s most important Real Estate Agencies, he highlighted the way in which Spain’s infrastructures has improved in recent years, “changing the way we sell: trips are cheaper, more comfortable and shorter thanks to our high speed railway investment”.
The event demonstrated that Spain is a very attractive country to invest in, thanks to the combination a raise in the number of available cheaper property and new government incentives. Along with a recent increase in the number of empty houses, it is a perfect time to snap up bargains. The Brazilian lawyer Vitoria Nabas, Chief Executive Officer of Nabas Legal International Lawyers, highlighted that non-resident owners are no longer discriminated by a different taxation system, thanks to a recent European resolution on the matter. She also spoke about wealth, property and personal income taxes among others.
